Cooking units that are adapted to be disassembled and effectively enclosed in a container for ease of transporting on a camping trip or the like are already available. One such unit, which is disclosed in my pending application Ser. No. 378,111, filed May 14, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,706 is particularly adapted to be used outdoors as an environmentally enclosed heating and cooking system. Other cooking units, that are customarily used on patios for barbequing and the like, have provisions for disassembling or collapsing to promote easy storage. However, the arrangement of the parts of a cooking unit that is used in outdoor cooking is considerably different than the arrangement of parts of cooking units used for patio cooking. In view of the fact that many people who participate in outdoor camping activities occasionally desire to enjoy the experience of patio cooking there is a need for a convertible cooking unit that may be arranged in a compact form for ease in transporting and storage and is capable not only of being used in a camping atmosphere to perform the several heating and cooking functions that are required around the campfire but also of being used to carry out specialized cooking functions, such as hibachi cooking, that are associated with patio-living.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking unit that is convertible for use in a variety of cooking functions and is also adapted to be quickly disposed in a compact, collapsed form for ease in storing and transporting.